CINCINNATI, Ohio — Nine protesters arrested outside Kroger’s downtown Cincinnati headquarters may keep demonstrating on the public sidewalks outside the building while their criminal cases are pending, a Hamilton County judge ruled Friday.
Hamilton County Municipal Judge Danielle Colliver ordered during an October 30 hearing that the protesters are barred from entering the building or knowingly interfering with the supermarket chain’s operations, but declined to limit their access to public spaces outside, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. "I am not going to order a ban from the sidewalks," Colliver said, as quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer, noting that doing so would be an "infringement on the defendants’ rights."
About 60 activists demonstrated September 23 outside the headquarters to urge Kroger to honor what they say is its commitment to transition to cage-free eggs, according to the Enquirer. The nine arrested face charges of resisting arrest and trespassing; eight chained themselves to the building’s entrance, the Enquirer reported.
Prosecutors initially asked the court to prohibit the protesters from the downtown headquarters and all Kroger stores, then narrowed the request before the hearing, the Enquirer reported. The protesters’ attorneys called the stay-away request a First Amendment violation.
"This isn’t about public safety," attorney Paul Laufman said in court, as quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. "This is now, apparently, about Kroger trying to use the authority of this court to squelch an unpopular opinion." Assistant Cincinnati City Solicitor Brandon Yang told the judge the city sought the order to guard Kroger’s interests as a victim in the case, not to restrict the protesters’ message, the Enquirer reported.
Sharon Nunez, president of Animal Equality, said her organization has petitioned Kroger for months over cage-free eggs, the Enquirer reported. "This is a win," Nunez said, as quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. "What Kroger wants to do is to silence us." The Enquirer reported the group intends to continue peaceful demonstrations, and that Kroger did not reply to its request for comment on the decision in time for publication.
The nine defendants’ criminal cases — resisting arrest and trespassing — now move forward with the sidewalk access settled. Kroger’s cage-free timeline remains the underlying dispute: the company backed out of a 2016 promise to sell only cage-free eggs by 2025 and later scaled the goal to 70% cage-free by 2030, according to the Enquirer.